Cincinknitty Blogger

Because it beats studying (100 Questions)

2010-01-13T11:21:00.002-05:00

1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT?
The scar on my face - the one most people ask about. I was about 9 months old, and I pulled myself up on the fireplace handle and started chewing on it. Slipped, and the handle went through my cheek. I missed major nerve damage by 1/4 of an inch, but as it is, I can't do the Elvis lip-curl on that side, probably because of it.

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM?
Star Wars shit. Yep, that's the room that Matt's allowed to have all his RPG shit out in.

3. DO YOU SNORE, GRIND YOUR TEETH, OR TALK IN YOUR SLEEP?
Pretty sure no...

4. WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?
I love 90s music. Rap can suck a nut.

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?
11:10pm

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW?
I'm pretty content right now, but I'd settle for having my degree so I can get a fucking job already.

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS?
Having an ass that doesn't look like a table.

8. WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION(S)?
My rugrats, but I don't really "possess" them. They are, however, possessed.

9. HOW TALL ARE YOU?
5'7, 5'8, depending on which convenience store I'm leaving.

10. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC?
Nope. I love confining spaces - just give me enough room to draw air in my lungs, and I'm good.

11. DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK?
Hell no.

12. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY?
Myself because I'm a big baby.

13. WHAT'S YOUR WORST FEAR?
Bugs. And losing my family. But bugs happen much more often.

14. WHAT KIND OF HAIR/EYE COLOR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX?
I'm a sucker for red hair. Must be my inner ginger trying to keep the breed alive.

15. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF PROPOSING?
Um, I'm already married.

16. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINK?
Reeeed Buuuuuull

17. FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING?
Pepperoni; or almonds, pineapple, ham, and cinnamon. Don't look at me in that tone of voice, it's fucking awesome.

18. IF YOU COULD EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Your mom.

19. FAVORITE COLOR OF ALL TIME?
Purple

20. HAVE YOU EVER EATEN A GOLDFISH?
What the balls.

21. WHAT WAS THE FIRST MEANINGFUL GIFT YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED?
Life, actually. That was pretty sweet of my mom to not abort me.

22. DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH?
Duh. Who doesn't?

23. ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED?
I can pop my pinky.

24. FAVORITE CLOTHING BRAND?
Er..nothing specific.

25. Who is your favorite male/female celebrity
Sean Connery and Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

26. DO YOU HAVE A PET RIGHT NOW?
Yeppers

27. WHAT KIND IS IT?
Cocker Spaniel named Obi Wan, the cutest fucking gray longhaired cat you'll ever see called Logan, and a beta fish named Justin.

28. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING?
Yeah, that happened.

30. SAY A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED?
"A number from one to a hundred."

31. BLONDES OR BRUNETTES?
Redheads, not warheads.

32. FAVORITE QUOTE:
What the everloving fuck?

33. FAVORITE PLACE?
Under the covers or on a beach.

34. HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF THE USA?
I went to Canadia once.

35. YOUR WEAKNESSES?
Oh, the list.

36. MET ANYONE FAMOUS?
I got Anthony Munoz's autograph once - I called him the "Furniture Fair Guy," and he looked perfectly miserable.

37. FIRST JOB?
Droppin' fries at McDs.

38. EVER DONE A PRANK CALL?
Of course.

39. DO YOU THINK EVERYONE OUT THERE HAS A SOULMATE?
Some people have more than one. That's what I like to call the jackpot.

40. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED THIS OUT?
You don't wanna know.

41. HAVE YOU EVER HAD SURGERY?
Let's see. I've had my face stitched back together, I've almost cut a toe off, I've been stabbed in the leg by my bike (there's a good story), had my cooter cut on, and had my wisdom teeth taken out.

42. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST?
My smile and my crazy-ass hair.

43. HAVE YOU EVER HAD BRACES?
Nope.

44. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY?
A floor loom.

45. HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT AND THEIR NAMES?
I've already got two, what more do you want from me?

46. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Nope

47. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST TURN OFF OF THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Poor hygiene.

48. WHAT IS ONE THING YOU LIKE(D) ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL?
I could take a stupid class and fail it, and it didn't cost any money.

49. WHAT KIND OF SHAMPOO DO YOU USE?
Whatever's on sale

50. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Sometimes

51. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
BACON.

52. ANY BAD HABITS?
Biting my nails

53. ARE YOU A JEALOUS PERSON?
Nope

54. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Maybe

55. DO YOU AGREE WITH FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS?
Sure, why not?

56. DO LOOKS MATTER?
Personal preference matters.

57. HOW DO YOU RELEASE ANGER?
Smoke and scream

58. WOULD YOU RATHER GAIN 58 POUNDS OR LOOSE 58 POUNDS?
Lose, obviously.

59. WHAT'S YOUR MAIN GOAL IN LIFE?
Be a grown up when I'm 90.

60. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD?
Toys?

61. HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE IN YOUR CELL PHONE?
Who the hell would just randomly know this?

62. WERE YOU A FAN OF BARNEY AS A LITTLE KID?
Fuuuuck no.

63. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
No, not at all.
/sarcasm

64. MASHED POTATOES OR MACARONI AND CHEESE?
Mac and cheese

65. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
Fun

66. WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES?
Roach, Torch, Ginger, Big Red

67. FAVORITE SUPER POWER?
The dude from Heroes who sucks up everyone else's power - but not Syler, because he lobs heads off to get the power.

68. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOWS?
TV?

69. WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH YOUR ENEMIES?
I don't have enemies. I've got people who have their head up their ass.

70. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
NOM NOM NOM

71. DO YOU HAVE ALL YOUR FINGERS AND TOES?
Yeppers

72. DO YOU HAVE A COMPUTER IN YOUR ROOM?
I can bring the laptop in

73. PLANS FOR TONIGHT?
SCHOOOOL.

74. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO LIVE WHEN YOU ARE OLDER?
So many different places, it ain't even funny

75. DO YOU WANT ANYONE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS?
Sure.

76. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?
Sister Hazel. Seriously, you know me, right?

77. LAST THING YOU DRANK?
Mint hot chocolate

78. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Probably the mister

79. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE IN THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Eyes

80. WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?
What's that?

81. FAVORITE THING TO HATE?
UV rays, Twilight, haters

82. FAVORITE SEASON OF THE YEAR?
All but winter. And I'd like winter more if people in Ohio knew how the fuck to drive.

83. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE TYPE OF CANDY?
Payday bars

84. HAVE YOU EVER REALLY AND TRULY HAD A BEST FRIEND?
Yes.

85. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR?
Right now, it's red with bleached out streaks that used to be purple. Sometime this weekend, it'll probably be brown with red streaks

86. EYE COLOR?
Shit brown

87. SHOE SIZE?
10 or 11.

88. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?
Skyline Chili

89. FAVORITE RESTAURANT?
Skyline, fool.

90. DO YOU LIKE SUSHI?
Ew, no

91. WATCH TV TODAY?
Nope. Probably won't.

92. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR?
Halloween

93. PLAY ANY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS?
Slide whistle

94. REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT?
I'm not a Republican. Let's leave it at that.

95. KISSES OR HUGS?
Huggles

96. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS?
Relationships

97. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT?
A blueberry muffin and the infamous mint hot chocolate

98. WOULD YOU EVER BE A HOUSEWIFE?
I was once, I'd do it again.

99. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
None, actually. For shame.

100. DESCRIBE YOUR LOVE LIFE?
Like everyone elses - has it's ups and downs, but overall it's pretty good. We haven't killed each other yet, at least, and that's a plus, right?

And these little bitches cried "wahh wahh wahhh" all the way to the feminist rally

2009-12-15T23:54:00.003-05:00

So apparently, I'm an awful woman for saying that Sarah Jessica Parker looks like a horse. I'm the disgrace of feminists everywhere, and I ought to be ashamed because it's not like she had a choice in how she looks, and she's a role-model for "unconventional beauties" everywhere, and it's sad that she's getting insulted and she can't even defend herself, and it's just not fair (sob and flounce).

Well, fuck that. The woman looks like a goddamn pony. Maybe if she'd gain 20 pounds and stopped doing so many hair dye and makeup commercials (which I think is why she looks kinda leathery...), she'd look loads better. And yes, I know, I'm no Hollywood designer or agent or anything, so no one is remotely required to listen to anything I say on the subject of how to make someone look "beautiful." So fucking what? I'm tired of being PC. SJP looks like a horse. Whoop-dee-do. If she were some random bitch on peopleofwalmart.com, it'd be funny as hell (actually, it *is* funny as hell). How is this different?

On the flip-side, does it even matter that I said it? As someone said, she's not here to defend herself, although I can totally see her flying back to Cincinnati and driving almost an hour to Batavia, and knocking down my door to tell me I'm a big fat meanie pants for saying it about her. Yeah. And I'm Tiger Woods *n*th secret lover (although he's fucked so many women recently, I very well could be). /sarcasm.

So if that makes me a big fat meanie pants, then so be it. At least this big fat meanie pants kept her big fat meanie panties unwadded. I believe I've already established the fact that I'm loud, opinionated, and I don't apologize for what I say. That makes me a bitch. And once again, I ask of you: So fucking what?

Just another day in "Paradise"...

2009-10-06T23:02:00.003-04:00

OK, life. That's enough shit for now, kthxbai.
Today:
1) Lost checkbook. Had to borrow $25 for copay from my MIL, meaning that I actually had to *see* my MIL.
2) Key broke off in lock, and I didn't have a key for my back door. So I locked everyone out. I also realized I need to make more friends - I don't know a single lock-picker within 30 miles.
3) Had to leave class early to take Thing 2 to the behavior specialist.
4) Behavior specialist looked about ready to cry by the end of the appointment. Welcome to my life EVERYDAY, lady. But add an autistic kid in, too.
5) Start on new meds for Thing 2. Evaluation for occupational therapy - sensory issues. Great - like another one of my kids needs to have sensory issues. Also anxiety concerns. Fuck, she's 4, for Chrissake.
6) Almost ran out of gas. Thanks for the gas money, Mom. I owe you about 2305893 now, right?
7) Mr. had to break the back window to get in. Turns out it's a solid sheet instead of the 9 individual panes, so now we have to replace the whole.fucking.window.
8) Didn't get home till almost 9, and I have German homework, a FAS paper to rewrite, and 15 more pictures to find for Drawing.

Tomorrow has GOT to be better, right? RIGHT? Swear to God on Thursday (first day of fall break), I'm sitting in my jammies, drinking tea, knitting, and watching Gone With The Wind. Or I'll sleep.

Fucking around on Omegle...again.

2009-09-14T19:15:00.002-04:00

This is ALWAYS good for a laugh.

Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Omegle is not a dating site. Please try to have interesting conversations here!
You: Hello
Stranger: hola
Stranger: who r u
You: How's it going?
Stranger: lif stinks. u
You: I'm a random stranger you just met on the internet.
Stranger: true....
Stranger: and im not aloud to talk to stranger!!!! ahhh ur cary
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

(This next one is a two-part convo)
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Omegle is not a dating site. Please try to have interesting conversations here!
You: Hello!
Stranger: hi
Stranger: from?
You: USA. You?
Stranger: turkey
Your conversational partner has disconnected.
(Part 2)
Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Omegle is not a dating site. Please try to have interesting conversations here!
You: Hello!
Stranger: hi
Stranger: from?
You: You're from Turkey, aren't you? You just disconnected me.
Stranger: :D
You: *FAIL*
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

People are actually pretty boring tonight. :(

Oooooooooooooomegle!

2009-09-09T22:36:00.002-04:00

So I found this website called www.omegle.com. You can chat with random people all around the world. Most people would think this is cool, and I do. But there are many random, messed up people on there, too. I don't let them bother me. Allow me to share some snippets of some of my best conversations:

Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Omegle is not a dating site. Please try to have interesting conversations here!
You: How's it going?
Stranger: shitty my cat died
You: :( I'm sorry to hear that. Was it old?
Stranger: i fucked it to death
You: You really shouldn't fuck the wrong pussy.
Stranger: honest mistake
You: Was it close by? Like laying on your girl's stomach or something?
You: **slowly backs away and hides kittens**
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

You’re now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Omegle is not a dating site. Please try to have interesting conversations here!
You: Please don’t be lame.
Stranger: I’m only as lame as your mom in the sack
You: Sweet.
You: I like you already.
You: I LOVE your mama jokes.
Stranger: ..is your mom lame in the sack?
You: From what I hear.
Stranger: Orly?
You: Bet you didn’t count on that when you opened this conversation, did you?
Stranger: Yo momma so fat, ALL of her relationships are long distance
You: Your mama’s so ugly, even a dementor wouldn’t kiss her.
Stranger: Yo momma so ugly she looks out the window and gets arrested!
You: Your mama’s so fat, Ben Kenobi said “That’s no moon…that’s YOUR MAMA!”
Stranger: Yo Momma so poor when I ring the doorbell she says, “DING!”
You: Your mama’s so dirty, she has to sneak up on the bathtub.
Stranger: Yo momma so stupid when she read on her job application to not write below the dotted line she put, “O.K.”
You: Your mama’s so fat that when she went to the beach, Spain came up and claimed her for the New World.
Stranger: Yo momma so stupid it took her 2 hours to watch 60 minutes.
You: Your mama’s so fat, her tramp stamp says “WIDE LOAD.”
Stranger: Yo momma so old she knew Burger King while he was still a prince.
You: The reason God needed the 7th day off was because He wore himself out making your fat-ass mama.
Stranger: That one was cold
Stranger: I’M TELLING MY MAMA
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

Stranger: hey
You: Hello. How's it going?
Stranger: good r u gay
You: As in...happy? LOL
Stranger: no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stranger: LOL
You: Not that it matters, but no.
You: What an odd way to start a conversation.
Stranger: why im gay
You: Are you a guy or girl?
Stranger: gay
You: I think you're misunderstanding the question.
Stranger: i think ur gay too
Stranger: knock knock
You: Yes. I'm very gay. I'm the gayest person ever! This has been such a good day, I'm so excited!
You: I've had such a gay day!
You: Who's there?
Stranger: disco
You: Disco who?
Stranger: DISCONECTED
You: LOL
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

Connecting to server...
You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Omegle is not a dating site. Please try to have interesting conversations here!
Stranger: hey
You: Hello. How's it going?
Stranger: its going well
Stranger: how about you
You: Found out my dog is having seizures. Ick.
Stranger: yeah
Stranger: hold on i heard a noise.
You: Um, OK...
You: *listens intently*
Stranger: wtf
Stranger: aclalthecpops
Stranger: callthecaps
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

I will routinely be updating this. It's just too good to pass up.

Kids nowadays

2009-09-04T02:03:00.002-04:00

Those little fuckers can think outside the box. Fast. Check out www.mylifeisaverage.com (MLIA)if you don't believe me. Some examples:

* Today, My chemistry teacher asked our class if anything occurs when you mix an alcohol with a salt. I said a margarita. He gave me a bonus point. MLIA

* Today, I took a test in science class. One of the questions was "What is arguably the most dangerous element?" I said the element of surprise. I got extra credit. MLIA.

* Today I joined the computer club at school. All new members had to take a computer knowledge test to determine if they could stay in the club. One question was "Johnny's computer has a pentium 4 processor, advanced graphic cards and 50 GB of storage. What does Johnny need to improve?" My answer was "his social life". Not only did I get into the club, they offered me the role of vice president. MLIA

* Today, I was at a four way stop sign and another car got there at the same time as me. I waved for him to go, then he waved for me to go. We both sat there for a few seconds and then put our hands out the window to rock-paper-scissors for it. I won. MLIA

So it is now my mission to do great things like this EVERY DAY. I want to live my life as if I post post multiple entries on MLIA every day. Too bad that the "A" doesn't stand for "AWESOME." I'll try to blog this every day, but I make no guarantees that I can take a break from great things to blog.

Great Thing #1. I just spelled "guarantee" correctly, with no stumbling on the keys, and no spell check. I already feel full of fucking WIN.

Because I haven't blogged in a long-ass time...again...

2009-08-12T23:07:00.002-04:00

Found this on one of my old MySpace blogs and thought it could be pretty funny...so come with me while we (re)discover...(bum bum bum) "THE SOUNDTRACK TO ERIN'S LIFE!"

Opening Credits: Who Needs Shelter? - Jason Mraz

Waking Up: Never Alone - Dropkick Murphys

First Day At School: Wonderboy - Tenacious D

Falling In Love: What Did You Say? - The Pipettes

Fight Song: Rawkfist - Thousand Foot Krutch

Breaking Up: Bang Bang - Dispatch

Prom: Numbered Days - Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Life: In Between - Linkin Park

Mental Breakdown: The Doodlebop Pledge - The Doodlebops (yes. It is, in fact, a children's song.)

Driving: For Me - Grammatrain

Flashback: Underage Bichon - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

Getting Back Together: History - Tenacious D

Wedding: Hey Now - Toby Mac

Birth of Child: Your Illusion - Hanson

Final Battle: Loser - Beck (aw, dammit.)

Death Scene: One Last Run - Nickelback

Funeral Song: I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues - Elton John

End Credits: 21st Century Cure - Repo! The Genetic Opera Soundtrack

Bad blogger, BAD!

2009-07-27T23:54:00.003-04:00

I've not been blogging again...but I have a legit reason now! Let me bring you up to speed:

* The shop is now closed. Dead Snake Crafts had an OK run, but I couldn't afford to do it anymore. It became a "job" to dye, to try to promote, to try to sell. I couldn't pay for supplies and advertising. So I sold off my stock and closed up.

* Princess (the cat in my avatar) ran off. Slutty bitch cunt whore, she totally did it to get knocked up, and now that she's having fun in the single whore kitty life, she's not come back. I can't say I blame her, actually.

* We got two new kittens, Lily and Luna. Lily was the cat I went to pick up, and then I saw Luna, this gorgeous little diluted tortie, who happened to be the runt. Long story short, Luna was put down a week after we got her - she was just too little to make it anymore. We got another kitten from my cousin about a week ago, and he's a delightful little hellraiser.

* I bought 2 new shirts.

* I started selling Pure Romance! That's the main thing that's been keeping me busy lately, and I'm having so much more fun with this! If you want to visit my site, go to www.eringansler.pureromance.com! If you want to order something, click the link at the top of the page that says "Order Online", and I'll get credit for the sale. If you live in the greater Cincinnati/NKY area, I'd love to book a party for you - it doesn't cost you anything, unless you consider spending a few hours with your girls and having fun an "expense."

* Mr. BigRed is working, which is helping us bring money in that we need, as I didn't get a full-time "job." Apparently, no one wants to hire a college mom with 2 years in general studies and no solid job history. I wonder why...

* We packed up all but 5 of the girls toys (5 each, actually), started a toy library where they can "check out" 5 different toys a week, and turned the shit-hole playroom into a guest bedroom/office. My house has never looked neater.

* I read about a new way to do book-making. I prefer this new way, and will probably make more books this way.

* We found a box turtle in the middle of the road one day. I was all for taking it to the woods and releasing it, but Mr. BigRed wanted to keep her, so we did. Her name is Una. Yes, the kids named her.'

* The "vacation" to New Jersey last month was hell. That is all I'm saying on the subject.

* I start Xavier at the end of August. 3 art classes, a foreign language, and a religion/philosophy course. Between this, Pure Romance, and studying, I don't plan to see my family again until Thing 1's birthday at the end of October. I'm kinda sad about that, but the faster I get school out of the way, the fast we can get on with life. And if Pure Romance takes off like I hope it does, we may not have to move for me to find a job, which would be great. Even though I want to move far away, everyone we know is in Cincinnati. It took me an entire lifetime to build up this network, and I don't want to start all over again in a new city. I've tried it before, and it sucked BALLS.

* I found out that dogs are equally amused by a laser pointer as cats are.

That's all I can think about for now. If you read this and are on Facebook or MySpace, friend me! Look for Erin Gansler on FB, and click here to friend me on MySpace! I'll periodically have specials running for Pure Romance that you can only get through me, so keep an eye out!

Instead of washing the dogs...

2009-05-28T14:13:00.002-04:00

That's right, hoars. I made MOTHER FUCKING ICE CREAM! In a BAG!

Check it:

Recipe for R-Rated Bagged Ice Cream

2 cups milk
3-4 tablespoons of sugar (depends on how sweet you like it)
2 tablespoons cocoa power
a splash of vanilla (if you're like me, a splash=2 TB)

You could probably add other shit, like nuts or marshmallows or whatnot.

Dump that shit in a bag, seal it tight like your asshole and shake it a bit to mix it. Then put about 2-3 cups of ice and a shitton of salt inside a bigger sealable bag (your ass is probably not a good idea, as this will get very very cold), put your ice cream fixin's in the salty ice bag, and shake that shit for a good 20 minutes.
Methods to Shake It:
* Listen to Hey Ya! by OutKast and shake it like a muthafuckin Polaroid picture.
* Get your crotchfruit to shake it for you when your hands get cold (like I did)
* Tie it to your dog and then take him outside and play fetch.

When it's all solid, take it out and be sure not to get any of the salt water anywhere near anything that's gonna go into your mouth, and then dump the ice cream in a bowl and NOM IT. Nom its fucking socks off. Sharing with your kids is optional, but does feel nice.

Things I've done today instead of writing my history paper

2009-05-19T10:10:00.002-04:00

* Talked about vagina bike taxis
* Watched clips from the 1995 movie "Waiting to Exhale"
* Researched the CD that I saw at Walmart last night that had a classical song on it that I can't remember the name of
* Drop spindled some rag wool (seriously, BigRed?!)
* Talked about bread-making machines on Ravelry
* Looked up the National Bone Marrow Registry and wanted to sign up, but I can't pay the $52 registration fee
* Texted my friend about a party she's throwing on Friday
* Marveled at the fact that I have three separate parties to attend this weekend
* Printed off a little cartoon of a bird that I can carve into a linoleum block at school so I can stamp a birdie onto the pages of a book I'm making in class today
* Gathered various supplies for paper-making at school today
* Listened to Tinted Windows and looked at pics of them
* Went to the bathroom. TWICE.

I really suppose I ought to start at least researching this fucker. But I'd rather hold my drop spindle as a microphone and pretend I'm a rock star along with Taylor Hanson's singing.

B to the Izzy

2009-05-08T16:00:00.003-04:00

So. Life is busy, this I know, for my migraine tells me so.

First - I got accepted into Xavier for their Fiber Arts program!! Yeah, bitches! I start in the fall with a super-duper heavy course load, laden with art classes (woot woot) and one German class (which I don't mind).

I also got a $13,000 a year scholarship from the university for my kick-taint grades that I got at UC - at the moment, I'm maintaining around a 3.94 GPA (and yes, I cried last quarter when I got an A-, which drug it down from a 3.97. I cried like a fucking bitch). With all my grants and scholarships, I only have to take about $12,000 a year out in loans, which is about what I'm taking out now to go to a less-prestigious community college. *does baby circles*

I'm also searching for a summer job - I'll hopefully get hired on to work (not intern!) at the ceramics shop that I interned at last summer. The shop is awesome, the people are totally cool, and I generally heart the place and would work there again for free if I didn't need the money so bad (like, "I'm going to start donating plasma" bad). If you're in the Nati area and like ceramics, check out FUNKe Fired Arts for classes, expos, and a Gallerie of hawt ceramic pieces.

On the home front: Mr. BigRed signed his contract for next year, so he's guaranteed his job next year (unless he does something retardedly stupid and gets fired, with is about as likely as KnitPicks shipping to Scotland). Yay for financial security!

Thing 1 is not going to "kindergarten" next year - she's going to some special class for kids who are intellectually ready for kindergarten, but need more direct adult interaction than a typical 25:1 ratio can offer. I'm a little bummed because we always expected (and were told) that with interventions, she'd be in normal kindergarten. But I'm happy with her progress - she talks more, and interacts more, and that makes us happy.

Thing 2...aw, man. Teh dramaz, she haz it. She was diagnosed with ADHD (not ADAH, as I previously posted), and started medication on Wednesday. Today is Friday, and she's been nothing but golden today. It's amazing. I've had a migraine all day, and she sat at her kid table next to me and colored and assembled a book. She's never been able to sit down and concentrate for anymore than 3 or 4 minutes, and she sat with me not only through Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but also Little Mermaid 3. Hopefully, this is the medication and not just a fluke good day.

As for me...I got a haircut, and now can truly be called BigREDErin again.

Smokin' hot, ain't it? And my makeup is courtesy of Sweet Libertine Cosmetics, an absolutely wonderful seller on Etsy (and who coincidentally lives here in the Nati, and is an amazingly LSG person who knows how to get her freak on). Visit her shop and buy her makeup! It's good shit!! I may have to start turning tricks to keep my supply coming.

As for my shop - it's slow. Very slow. Like, 2 sales in the past 30 days slow. I've got some new stuff up - if you wanna take a gander, that'd be cool. :)

Well, my eyesight is starting to waver, so that's not a good sign with this migraine. Yay. I'm gonna go now.

If you're still reading this...

2009-04-27T11:09:00.001-04:00

Good for you! Just swinging in to say that I'm updating the shop with sock yarn today, and I've got some more cookin', so check back frequently!

Going out of town...

2009-04-18T01:09:00.002-04:00

Mr. BigRed's grandpa passed away on Wednesday, so I'll be out of town starting tomorrow (Sat, April 18th) until the following Wednesday (April 22). Prayers and mojo for our family will be appreciated. I'll have an update for the shop when I come back, so pay attention on Wednesday for an update! I'll be plurking regularly via my phone, so if you need to contact me, catch me on my plurk - the widget on the side of this page will link you directly to my plurk profile.

Bye! Wish us a safe trip!

Shop update!

2009-03-30T10:06:00.002-04:00

Just swinging by to let everyone know that the shop has been updated, and I will be adding new stock throughout the week as well. I'm expecting my shipment of acid dyes in today, so I can start experimenting with more colors than just what comes in the Easter egg dye box. I've already got a few good ideas which I'm sure everyone will enjoy and buy up quickly and leave me to buy more stuff to dye for you guys!

I also got my sock yarn in, so I will be winding that up and dyeing that as well at some point this week, so there will finally be hand-dyed/hand-painted sock yarn!

Also, I'm now the proud owner of a Blackberry. Crap, those things are addictive - no wonder President Obama didn't want to give his up - it should be called a Crackberry.

Class starts back up this week, and it's the beginning of "SUPER AWESOME MEGA FUN ART QUARTER!" YAY!!!!!!

Bipolar Week!

2009-03-23T08:33:00.002-04:00

Hey, everyone! I'd like to bring attention to something that's been niggling at the back of my mind - this past week was National Erin's Bipolar Week! At least, it seemed that way to me.
Good things that happened:

* Made lots of sales in my Etsy Shop
* Took my finals and managed to scrape an A in Biology and Algebra, the classes I thought I'd have the most trouble in
* Hung out with some of my old PetSmart co-workers
* Got my drink on at my friend Kristin's bachelorette party
* Took the dogs to the dog park and watched my kids and dogs have fun with other poochies
* Ate at a yummy Italian restaurant

Suck-ass things that happened:
* Got an A- in History - yes, I know an A- isn't that bad, but I like my GPA, and this is my second A- since I've been in college. Why, yes, I do have a stick up my ass when it comes to my grades - why do you ask?
* Got a notice from the office that my yard is apparently too trashy looking for the *TRAILER PARK* that I live in, so I must clean it up by today. I also have to get rid of all my kid toys in my back yard because apparently, kid toys are verboten in the yard and I don't have a shed like 95% of my other neighbors to put my shit it. I'm also not allowed to tie my dogs up on a chain outside so they can go potty, which is gonna suck because my border collie mix Zelda is not trained to poop while on a leash and walking. SHIT.
* Various pissy tiny things that happened throughout the week that served to effectively bring my mood down

So. I have to go clean up my yard now and then go get rid of all my kid toys (a playhouse, a sandbox, and various other kid toys), clean out my flower beds, and (I needed to do this anyways, now that spring is here) clean up all the dog shit and cigarette butts from my yard. I hope your day is a lot cleaner and more fun-filled than mine is.

FUCK YOU BIOLOGY

2009-03-17T13:35:00.002-04:00

Dear Biology:

I quit. I'm not studying you anymore. The teacher will just curve the score of your final anyway, and I've got better things to do with my time. Plus, I didn't care enough to learn about you the first time around when she mentioned it, and I sure as shit am not learning anything new while half-assedly studying you and clicking back to the Human Clock.

I think I'll do that missing test so I don't go into the exam with anything below a 90. Then, I'm going to spin. Because I CAN, MOTHER FUCKER. And there's not a damned thing you can do about it. So suck on that, Biology.

No love,
Erin

PS. You have a stupid name.

Get out here, you bitch!

2009-03-12T14:31:00.003-04:00

Spring.

I know you're here.

I saw some fresh grass growing in my flower bed this morning. It wasn't there yesterday. Sadly, this grass will be ripped out eventually when I clean the winter mess out of my flower bed, but still. Green. That means you're here, hiding behind something. You need to get your ass out here before I kick Mother Earth in the taint to get your ass rolling.

In other news, I've just finished spinning and plying 2 skeins of yarn for the shop. I bought the roving at a fiber festival last year, and for the life of me, I can't remember which one, or I'd give dues! I do know that it's 100% merino (top, I believe), and it some lovely shades of blues, purples, reds, and a very very very dark (almost black) indigo. Once I get the other bunch skeined, soaked, snapped and dried, I'll take pictures. The first one is hanging up to dry in my bedroom in front of a fan.

Hooray, finals next week! That means that I can leave Winter quarter behind after Wednesday of next week!!! It's awesome to think that in less than a week, I'll be done with the quarter that was responsible for my biggest emotional breakdown since my postpartum depression with Thing 1. With luck (and prayer!), I'll get a 4.0 again this quarter, bringing up my GPA to a 3.98-something! I'm not too worried about any of my classes - I got a 98 on my research paper in History, so coupled with the 88 (GAH!) and the 97 I got on the first two exams, even if I got an 80 on the final, I'd still get an A. The teacher in Bio has been curving EVERYTHING, so I'll probably do fine in there - which is good, as I'd probably have a C in there if she didn't (that's OK, almost everyone else would be failing). Algebra is doing good, despite inspiring a panic attack last week - as long as I show up and bring my A game, I'll be fine. And Philosophy? Pssh, I give my own grade in there, and my graded assignments and participation/attendance will hopefully get the teacher to agree with me - especially since I explained to him that knitting in class helps me concentrate and I seriously wasn't tuning him out, as my increased participation proved once I picked up the needles.

I just noticed something. Last spring, I took 5 classes. Three of them were Art classes. This spring, I'm taking 5 classes. Three of them are Art classes. Coincidence? I think not.

33% off Stitch Markers

2009-03-10T23:51:00.002-04:00

Because I'm an eedjit who priced them too high in the first place. Seriously - WTF was I thinking? So now all stitch markers in the shop are $10 instead of the ass-raping $15, so you should definitely go look! I've also found what I think will be my supplier for roving, so once I get a little bit more money together, I'll be buying and dyeing some of that.

Hopefully, this funk I've been in will lift in a few days. Although I'm looking forward to only one more week of hell, as my Algebra final is next week and it's the last one I have to do for the quarter. Then the hell of waiting until grades come in...

I've got an appointment on Saturday morning to go down to the registrar's office at Xavier University to have my transcript looked over for acceptance into their art program. Hopefully, my rawkin' grades will kick some ass. They'd better be doing something - the breakdown that I had last week better not be for nothin'.

In other news, Thing 1 tied her shoes for the first time yesterday. Fine motor skills FTW!!! Thing 2 gave herself a 13138249th goose egg on her head, this time by jumping over the dog and landing on the vacuum cleaner. I'm starting to think that each bump is damaging her head just a little bit more than the last one, which makes her more susceptible to future falls. Fuck.

Dead Snake Crafts

2009-03-09T17:02:00.002-04:00

Is up and running! Visit me at www.bigrederin.etsy.com! I've not got my entire stock up yet, but I'm working on it! You should check it out!

Why are you still reading this? (ETA - apparently, because I'm an eedjit who fucked up her own link. But it's fixed now! Thanks, Rhionna!) Go now!

Yarn/Fiber Pics

2009-03-06T22:50:00.007-05:00

This is what I've done so far - I'll be setting up a light box sometime this weekend, but since my Opa's 80th birthday is tomorrow, everything else is kinda being put on hold until afterward. I've also made about 40-50 little stitch-markers to be sold in sets of 6 - price still hasn't been set yet. I won't be selling these items in the shop, as I don't think the yarn is bright enough and I honestly don't know what kind of wool the roving is - it came from a sheep, and I bought it over a year ago from a sheep farmer north of Nashville, Indiana.

Without further ado (and the Flickr uploader *must* be done by now): (ETA - yes, I know, the pics are oriented funny. I can't fix it right now.)

Watermelon!

Rainbow Sherbet!

And (by popular demand of Things 1 & 2), DEAD SNAKE!

I must be going now - I'm going bowling with a bunch of people I used to work with at the P-Mart. When I come back, I expect comments!

I know why the weekend SUCKED.

2009-03-04T10:41:00.002-05:00

It's because yesterday was 3/3/09, AKA "Square Root Day." They say that bad things come in threes, but around Square Root Day, they must come in nines, I guess. Fuck me sideways when it gets to be 7/7/2049. Actually, that'll be Thing 2's 44th birthday, so that won't be so bad, I guess.

To add onto the drama of this past weekend, I just had to fork out $65 for the new tire, and Monday, in anticipation of Square Root Day, I had to pay Roto-Rooter $125 to come out and snake my toilet, as one of the Things flushed a huge glob of TP down. Sadly, Roto-Rooter came out after I spent 1/2 an hour bailing out my toilet bowl with a metal bowl and two beach buckets because the tank wouldn't stop running. Before you ask why I didn't turn the water to the tank off, let me say that I did, and the fucker didn't work for me. I must have twisted the valve halfway to Mongolia, and the water kept on coming like a flood. Eventually, I bailed out enough to run to the laundry room and turn off the main water valve to the house, which stopped the flood, thankfully. I estimate my losses on Monday to be:
20-30 gallons of water
1/2 an hour of my time spent actually bailing out the toilet bowl
2 Get Fuzzy comic books
3 rolls of toilet paper
1/2 a box of kitty litter
2 towels that were so soaked with kitty litter and cat poop from the clean up that I just threw them out
The rug we keep in front of the shower to keep us from slipping
And of course, the $125 for Roto-Rooter to come out and snake my toilet for 5 minutes and then stand around talking to me for 1/2 an hour

Let's not forget also: my dignity from cleaning up the water that had overflowed during the initial clogging/flooding, plus the time spent bailing and cleaning up afterward, and then the knowledge that while I was talking to the Roto-Rooter guys, I was wearing Mr. BigRed's jammies. You know - the kind with the button fly? We'll just say that I had a wardrobe malfunction and wasn't wearing any panties.

But today's BOUND to be better. Know why? Because mother fucking Square Root Day ain't coming again until 2016.

Life, how much do you suck? Let me count the ways...

2009-02-27T14:17:00.002-05:00

I went out to get my kids from the bus stop earlier, and I noticed that I have a flat tire, probably caused my me swerving the other day on my way home from school to miss a squirrel.

This is after I missed my second Biology class of the quarter yesterday because by the time I had run my SIL back to her house and picked up the babysitter that was going to watch my kids last night, I didn’t even have enough gas to make it to the highway.

I would have put gas in my car, but my bank account’s overdrawn $50 because Mr. BigRed forgot to put the car insurance payment into the transaction register. This made the transaction register say that I could use my spend money for the month ($60), which I promptly spent on beads and string and shit. Originally, we thought we were only $10 over, so I went through the shit that I just bought and returned 1/4 of it. So now I’m short $15 that I’m not likely to get back anytime soon.

I would have spent some earlier in the month, but Mr. BigRed took his spend money out of the first paycheck of the month to buy (what else?) fucking movies, thus making me wait until the end of the month. His reasoning? “There were good sales on movies. I didn’t think you would mind waiting because there’s never sales on yarn and craft stuff.”

So. I’m left with a car with a flat tire, no gas, short $15 personal money, an overdrawn bank account, and an idiot husband.

The good news? My Swiffer is out of juice, I have no Swiffer mop heads anyways - just the one that I made, and it’s filthy because I used it to clean up the dog’s shit and piss because they’re fucking retarded - the dogs are filthy and shedding, Thing 1's bed (the top bunk, of course) is wet with some sort of liquid that doesn’t smell like piss or anything she’s had to drink, her face is stained blue from paint at preschool today, my main bathroom smells like cat piss and I can’t figure out where the cat peed, AND I’ve got a church group meeting tonight at my house (that Mr. BigRed coordinated) at 8pm.

The girl’s bedtime is 8pm. And Mr. BigRed won’t be home until 7:30pm.

FUCK MY LIFE.

Knit Knack Blanket Exchange (Will be known as the Project from Hell)

2009-02-22T00:06:00.006-05:00

As I've know about it since like, July of 1973 or something (not really, more like 7 months or so), and I'm just now getting finished with it. Once I get all my squares done, I'm pinning them out flat to get an idea what the finished product will be when I get all my squares. Then I'll decide if I'm going to add some more of my own squares in to make it bigger. I WILL post pictures. Pinky swear.

I'm thinking sometime this week, maybe after Thursday (when my 5 page research paper about the Transcontinental Railroad - which I just started today and got 3 pages into, I-thank-you - is due), I'm going to figure out how to post links on my blog for my other Rav sparkle-snatches to check out.

I've got Easter Egg dye! And I'm gonna be dyeing yarn! But first I need to order it! I do, however have some white roving, which I will dye, then eventually spin, then eventually make something completely fucking fantastic out of...like a Beanis! Could I use ANY more exclamation points!?!

Fuck, I dunno. Hey, sign up for Plurk, and friend me (big_red_erin). Don't forget to say I told you to sign up. Don't tell them I gave you a free puppy for signing up. Only Obama is cool enough to give people puppies.

Apparently...

2009-02-19T23:30:00.003-05:00

This blog has been deleted because I'm retarded. Fuck my life.

I'm a bad blogger

2009-02-13T19:22:00.006-05:00

I've been spending all my online time fucking around with dragons (not fucking dragons, tyvm), reading comics (xkcd.com FTW), Rav-stalking headband patterns, and squatting in LSG and CPAAG. So I've not been blogging much (hell, at all). Also, this little game is fucking addictive. Actually, I'm going to stop blogging for a few minutes and play a couple of rounds.

Great. And now Zelda just stomped on Allie's hand and scratched the shit out of it. I swear to God, dogs are more trouble than kids.

OK, I'm mainly blogging tonight because I've got something going on, and I'd appreciate the help of all 5 people that read my blog. As I'm sure you know, Thing 1 (Katrina) is mildly autistic. MIL set up a team to run in the Autism Speaks walk in May, and we're looking for donations (and if you live in the Cincy area, walkers and team members would be great). The website for the team is here: it's Team BooTheBear (I'm glad that MIL had good intentions, but she ought to have checked with us before naming the team, because the team name makes absolutely no sense - Katrina's been Booda Bear since she was born, not Boo the Bear. Anyways...), and you can either sign up to donate or sign up to walk with the team.

C'mon...how could you say no to this face?

Hmmm...I see your point. That's a pretty odd face. How about this one?

Seriously. It's hard getting a picture of her smiling where it doesn't look fake as hell.

I'm also doing something cool that someone on Ravelry gave me the idea for - a kind of a raffle, with all proceeds going to Team BooTheBear, which in turn goes to Autism Speaks. It's going to take some tweaking before I do anything solid, so I'll update this when I know. If someone could give me a kick in the ass if I haven't blogged again about this by Monday or Tuesday of next week, that would be the greatest.

Fuck you, winter.

2009-01-16T09:42:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, the girl’s preschool gets called off (that’s not the suck…well, it did suck, but anyways) due to the inch of snow that we got and the district is a bunch of anal pussies about having preschoolers out in the snow when it’s below freezing. So of course, they call school off on a day that I have class in the morning, so I called my friend whom I had set up an arrangement with for exactly this type of scenario. Of course, her kids are sick and she doesn’t want mine to get sick, so she bails on me. I called my mom, who lives a half-hour away, and she said she’ll watch them for me. Well, by the time I had all this straightened out and we were out the door, it was 8:30. Class starts at 9:30am, 1/2 hour drive there, 1/2 hour drive back, 10-15 minutes to find a space, park, and get to class on the other side of the (granted, small) campus…hmmm. As I’m sure you guys can do the math, this will make me late for class. Oh, well. What choice do I have?

Anyways, the weather yesterday was right around 0F, plus windchill, meaning that it was…well, I dunno. Cold as balls. Anyways, I go out to warm up my car after I find out the girls don’t have school, so my van will be somewhat warm when we start driving.

Yesterday, my van’s heater decided to die on me. Like it wouldn’t blow anything (luckily), but I had no heat, and the draft was coming though pretty strong through the vents, even with the heater turned off. So with my bitch-ass van, I had to drive:

1/2 an hour to my moms
1/2 an hour to school
(Class was an hour and 15 minutes, which was long enough for me to start feeling my toes again)
1/2 hour out to my moms to pick the kids up
1/2 hour back to my house

Then, the kicker. I had class last night too. Only not at the local college…at the other campus, 45 minutes to an hour away, depending on traffic. So, we add on:

45 minutes to other campus - after which, my fingers were purple even wearing a pair of gloves AND my pink Fetchings
(Class was about 2 hours)
Almost an hour back to my house because people in Cincinnati don’t know how to drive if they see snow on the ground and it’s dark outside.

So that makes a total of about 3 hours 45 minutes driving around in my minivan that more or less blows out cold air. I was wearing my Clapotis, my Candyland scarf, my mom’s gloves, my Fetchings, and I stole Katrina’s hat because I can’t find any of the other ones that I made. Plus, I was wearing wool socks and boots, jeans, a black long john shirt, and my big ass leather coat lined with (granted, imitation) fleece. I had no business being so damn cold.

I’m totally NOT leaving the house with that minivan again until fucking APRIL. My toes are still tingling a bit.

FUCK OLD MAN WINTER. FUCK HIM RIGHT IN HIS CRUSTY ICICLE-LY BEARD.

Snerk

2009-01-12T10:05:00.002-05:00

I'm such a shitty blogger. I really don't keep up on this at all. Right now, I'm only blogging because I need to read some Philosophy texts, and I a) can't find my book, and b) can't find my syllabus, so even if I found my book, I wouldn't know what to read.

It's too damn early in the quarter to be fucking up this much.

I've still got the Sickness From Hell - this past weekend, it's been my stomach (and everything linked to it, from top to bottom and from in to out), not to mention my sinuses are still messed up. I really ought to go to a doctor.

I really don't have anything else to say except this: I have an ingrown hair on my cootch. It needs to resolve itself ASAP because it's all throbbing and red and swollen and I'm sick of my twat area hurting.

I have...

2008-12-30T10:20:00.000-05:00

Gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...gotta pee...

Let's go pee.

Fuck you, Christmas.

2008-12-26T12:53:00.002-05:00

By "Fuck you," I don't mean the traditional celebration of Jesus' birth. That can stay, because after all, that's what Christmas is really about.

No, by "Fuck you," I mean that buying presents can go fuck themselves. Christmas cards can take a flying leap. The inevitable rain that comes on southeastern Ohio during December because Ohio is a douchebag that doesn't know that it's not supposed to be 0 degrees with wind one day and 50 degrees and raining the next, can take a pool cue up the ass. Cleaning up the messes of the holidays takes into next year, and I'm not just talking about the wrapping paper and crappy in-law cooking and all (although I feel bad about adding an extra 2 trash bags to the landfill this week) - the emotional messes that it causes take forever to fix, just to be rebroken again next year.

I really don't want to go through another year of Mr. BigRed bitching because his mom got his sisters super-ass-expensive presents (this year, she paid 3 months worth of rent on her older two daughter's apartments [I should mention that both the girls - and their respective significant others - are unemployed...], and bought her youngest daughter some expensive ass phone with all the whoo-hah bells and whistles, along with 6 months of prepaid minutes) while she forgot about him for the 10th year in a row, as if that's some sort of surprise. His mom is the type of woman who cut ties with everything from her first marriage, including her son, and now doesn't want anything to do with him because he reminds her of her first husband. Why the fuck is he surprised? This happens EVERY. YEAR. Even I see it coming, and after 9 years together, I've ceased feeling sorry for him. It'd be different if she actually had given him a good Christmas/Hanukkah when he was a kid, and therefore had a reason to feel let down, but it always was a sucky holiday season for him. No matter what I do, it doesn't make it better for him, either, so I've just stopped trying. Seriously - what's the point? I try to make him feel better about the holiday, and it doesn't work. I'm done with throwing time, energy, money, and emotion into a black hole.

I miss Christmas when I was a kid. Christmas lights, decorations all around the house, cider, driving around and looking at Christmas lights...hell, it even snowed sometimes for Christmas when I was a kid. But now matter how hard I try, now it sucks. It's like everything is trying to point out to me that this is WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG.

So this year, FUCK YOU, CHRISTM-HANUK-KWANZAA-YULE-FESTIVUS-BIGSACKOSHIT.

Now...I'm off to another Christmas party (at my mom and dad's house).

You better read, or you'll be studip and people will make fun of you. (Careful - this is loooong and pic-heavy)

2008-12-19T12:14:00.003-05:00

I saw this on another person's blog, and I'm going to post it here. Partially because I'm pretty curious, but mostly because the rugrats in the other room are too full of sugar from their respective Christmas parties this morning, and the energy is frankly scaring me, so I need something diverting in here.

___________________________________________________________________________________
This one is originally from the Big Read. Apparently they reckon most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) ~~Underline those you intend to read.~~ Since I can't figure out how to underline, I'm just going to color them pink.
3) Italicize the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list so we can try and track down these people who’ve only read 6 and force books upon them.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel - will read
52. Dune - Frank Herbert - You know, I tried with this one, and I really thought it was boring.
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker - Once again, I tried, and I just could. not. get it.
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - will read
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

__________________________________________________________________

Apparently, I'm a little better-off than the person I stole this from. They only read six - I've got sixteen. Boo-yah.

Like I promised, I'm posting pictures of the stuff I've been working on lately. I finished the infamous Clapotis, along with three or four hats for various kids that I know.

We will begin with the hats, which are all modeled by Thing One and Thing Two.
This is for my sister's stepson, Tyler. Question: would that make him my step-nephew? Doesn't matter.

This one is for my niece, Chelsey:

The hat (and mittens) in this photo are for Thing Two (aka Alexandra), who was so damn tired of the flash that she covered her face. Poor kid. I'm such an awful mom.

This hat is Katrina's (Thing One), and she lurves it.

And finally.......my CLAPOTIS!!!!!!! *does happy dance*
I wear this thing EVERY. WHERE. No joke. Even if I'm sitting around the house in my PJs, I'm usually wearing it. I'm wearing it right now, as a matter of fact.

OK, now I'm tired. I've got a cold (maybe strep throat), what feels like pink eye (including the lovely feeling of having your eye cemented shut in the morning), and maybe even an ear infection.

Fuck.

OK, I'm bad...AGAIN

2008-12-16T22:09:00.002-05:00

I haven't been blogging. Maybe that'll be my New Year's Resolution.

Quick recap: I've knitted the Clapotis and three hats - the Clap is for me (and it's spectacular, I'll add another blog with pics), one hat is for Allie (who ended up giving it to Trina while she took Trina's hat), one is for my nephew Tyler and another that I just finished today is for my niece Chelsey (yes, it's spelled wrong. Tell her idiot bio-father that). I've got three more hats to knit, along with a pair of fingerless mitts for my brother's girlfriend, a draft blocker for my sister, a lunch sack for Mr. BigRed, and I'll just be (hopefully) buying something for Mom/Dad and my brother.

I'll add more tomorrow while the kids are at school. Mr. BigRed wants his nookie.

Holy Blogger, Batman!

2008-11-30T23:54:00.003-05:00

I have two blog followers...I feel so loved.

So as I'm sure you've noticed, I've failed miserably at the Gratitude of the Day bit for the last week or so. But - I'm grateful for the opportunity to fail without consequences.

Guys, I've got a lot to say...but I just don't feel like typing. I need a program that can scan my brain for thoughts (however random they may be) and transfer them to Blogger. But, knowing my luck, it'll be a Mac product and therefore incompatible with my ~~piece of shit~~ Window's-operating system. QED.

Anyways, it's midnight, and school starts back up for the chilluns tomorrow. Must. Sleep. NOW.

*edited to add* - I posted this at 5 till midnight on the last day of November. Therefore, this post still shows up as November's, instead of December. It's just a little weird to think that a month has such a cut and dry arbitrary designator.

"No, it's 2 minutes after midnight, it's officially December now."
"But there was so much I wanted to get done in November, even though it was only 2 minutes ago, that I can only do in November...like sing G&R's "November Rain" and giggle at the irony. Now I'll have to wait a whole 'nother year for November to pop around again."

Meh. Bed. NOW.

I'm grateful foooooor...

2008-11-22T18:40:00.004-05:00

My memory.

Even though I forgot what I really was grateful for, I can remember y=mx+b, redshift and blueshift, how to do a s1, k1, psso, that Plato condoned gay relationships, my anniversary, and on good days, to bleach the whites.

Too bad I can't remember what I was REALLY grateful for - it was a good one.

We had family pictures today...we were there for THREE HOURS. Two of which were because the place was running late. Tell me, if you have three rooms to photograph people (usually a family of 5 or more, mainly small children), would you schedule appointments 10 minutes apart, 4 at a time? No? Me neither. But for some reason, that's how the place was operating today.

But amazingly, the kids were cool about 99% of the time there, the guy taking the pictures looked like a little like a crackhead but was absolutely wonderful with both the kids, and we got some AMAZING pictures of the kids and even a good one of Mr. BigRed and me. I'll have them posted in about 5-10 business days (when I can gank them off the online server). So - if you know where I live, I recommend Eastgate Mall's JCPenney, and ask for Brad. He's full of awesomesauce. We rewarded the kids with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese -they were so amazing, no temper tantrums or fits, and they behaved as well as a "typical" child would be expected to behave! - made affordable because the pics would have cost almost $350, but since we have awesome Coupon-Fu, it was under $100. Sweet.

Now, I've got to finish this astronomy homework...and drink my tea. Look for the ISS/Shuttle tonight - Google "ISS Flyby" for times where you can see it. Supposed to be really cool...but so is a meteor shower, and I guess I haven't seen any really good one of those because it's neat, but not OMGWTFBBQTHATWASSOCOOL.

Two for one!

2008-11-20T09:06:00.003-05:00

Because I'm an idiot and I didn't blog yesterday, at least about my Gratitude of the Day.

Yesterday's gratitude - I'm grateful for my speedy fat legs...otherwise I wouldn't have caught the cat as she made a beeline out the door while Mr. BigRed was holding it open like a ding bat.

Today I'm grateful for my kick-ass Ethic teacher. She's a pastor's wife and talked to us about the ethics of veal, and we got off on a tangent about how cows and such are slaughtered for the meat industry, which took off into a talk about the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. She just took it all in stride and kept up with the conversation, which I thought was super cool.

That, and she's given me 100% on the last two tests. Sweet.

It's Tuesday!

2008-11-18T21:27:00.003-05:00

That means Speech Class and Intro to Business. I hate my Effective Public Speaking class because 1) I have a B and 2) the woman is old, blind, and doesn't know how to work a light switch to turn the lights off for PowerPoint presentations, so she docked my last speech because "the contrast was too low and she couldn't read it." Well, duh, if all the lights are on, you're not going to be able to read it. And LAVENDER with BLACK text is not a bad combination. You're just blind.

So. For Daily Gratitude, I'm grateful for my eyesight. Even though I need contacts and still occasionally have trouble, I'm grateful that I can see what's in front of me with little trouble.

Now - today wasn't too bad. The kids behaved, which made me SOOOOOO happy because I had an exam today in Business that I had to ~~study~~ cram for. Sat through speech class and worked on my Clapotis and showed off my socks that I finished in Baltimore at Stitches (my speech last week was about knitting, and people asked how my socks were coming, so I promised I'd wear them today so they could see). I also got asked a knitting question by one of the girls in my class today! Sure, it was simple, like "How do you end it (bind-off)?", but I was able to answer it and help a new knitter along! YAY!

Mr. BigRed just told me that we've got family pictures scheduled for this Saturday.

I will write of the train wreck once we come home from them.

And with that, I leave you with Jason Mraz...old school. (Just click the triangle on the right side of the screen to play the song.)

Gratitude of the Day

2008-11-17T15:40:00.003-05:00

School is pissing me off...but I'm grateful that I get to go. Lots of people don't even learn to read, and not only am I reading, I'm reading about the incredibly boring world of organizational structures. But at least I'm reading.

Maybe I'll edit this to post more later. But this kind of hit me a bit, so I figured I'd wheel on over from the table to the computer (I love swivel/roll-y chairs).

Be thankful, you whiny bitch!!

2008-11-16T16:34:00.002-05:00

So.

Today at church, we had a sermon about thankfulness. Now, keep in mind that I go to a very progressive church - so progressive that...well, let's lead you into the story.

Apparently, Saul was the first king of Israel. (This I didn't know - I always thought David was...anyways) He was going to be followed by David (Ah! There he is!) as the next king, but apparently Saul was a pretty crappy king and didn't want David taking over. Soooo, he tried to have David killed (gee, what a great guy). While in battle, King Saul sneaks off to this cave that David and his crew are hiding in to (quoting from the New International Version) "relieve himself," and David cuts off a corner of Saul's cloak, proving that David wasn't trying to kill Saul because he totally could have done it while Saul was doin' the do.

We're progressive enough that the pastor had us rolling at the thought of this guy taking a dump in a cave.

Anyways, the whole story was about how David was a guy with a "gratitude attitude," and was always grateful for everything. He was grateful when things were good, when things were awesome, and when things downright sucked.

Our challenge was to try to find something everyday to be grateful for - the pastor even pointed out that medical studies have been done that prove that thinking about the good things you have and being grateful for them for three weeks (thinking about them, not how long to be grateful) will give improved health benefits like lowered blood pressure and less stress for up to six months and beyond. Pretty cool, I gotta say. So every day, I'll come on here and try to think of something to be grateful for. I'm sure some of it will be snarky, like today I'm grateful for my kids being my kids and not some of the fat screaming brats at the grocery store hollering for another Snickers, but hopefully, I'll include some gems. We'll see if this helps me to grow.

As for yesterday's post, Mr. BigRed apologized for being such an ass and appropriately gushed about how clean and spotless the kitchen was, and how awful it is that I can still smell the bleach on my hands...poor me. Of course I basked in what he was saying. Duh. The kitchen looks effin' marvelous.

On the knitting front - bring out the antibiotics, I've got the Clap. Which is good, because I'm running out of yarn for the entrelac scarf and won't be able to get any for at least 2 weeks. Eep.

Reason 2034 not to get married and have kids

2008-11-15T16:27:00.002-05:00

At least it feels like that today. Maybe it's because I woke up to a knee to the clit by a bony 3 year old. That's just the start of the shitty day.

Let's enumerate, shall we?

Mr. BigRed said he "cleaned" the kitchen, which apparently consists of shuffling the overdue bills from one pile to another while the kid's toys bounce from one counter to another. No water is used, let alone bleach, Fantastik, or 409, and a sponge or washrag is unheard of. Broom? WTF is that? (facepalm)

So. I clean the kitchen (the proper and normal way by putting things in their rightful place and mopping up the counters), and it's fairly sparkling right now. That's after an hour of picking up and scrubbing counters, and TWO HOURS of scrubbing the floor with bleach water until the water was black and my oh-so-cute knitted washrag was faded. Then, of course, Obi Wan pissed on the floor because he's a fucking moron who doesn't know the difference between linoleum and grass. (headdesk)

Mainly, this effort was put forth today because I have two friends that were supposed to come over today (with 5 kids between them), and plus my two - when there's lots of kids, I like my floors and house to be clean so on the inevitable chance someone's kid decides to lick my floor, it's nice and clean.

Well, Friend No. 1 decided that she wasn't coming because she and her three were hanging out with her SIL. Fine. What the fuck ever. Friend No. 2 with two kids actually has a pretty good reason for not being over here right now - her kids fell asleep for their naps 1/2 an hour before she was supposed to come over. (headwall)

Speaking of naps, MY FUCKING HEATHEN CHILDREN WILL NOT TAKE ONE. They know they need one. They know what happens if they don't take one (unbearable crankiness). But they resist. Every. Fucking. Day. (picture my head going through the wall)

So. In summary, don't have kids, and don't get married unless you're prepared to deal with idiots (the husband) and sloppy little heathens (the kids). Now, most people will be thinking "Wow, what a cunt. She shouldn't be a mom."
Well, it's not like I don't love my kids - I do. But I swear to God, from the age of 2 to 6 or 7, there is absolutely nothing between their ears besides apple juice and Froot Loops. When you have to tell the same 5 year old to "SIT DOWN!!!!!!" seven times in 5 minutes, you're liable to be a bitch too.

Please, someone tell me it gets a little better...

Oh, and here's the "I swear, I'm going to hit you with my knitting bag" award for the day: I'm scrubbing the floor, and Mr. BigRed is sitting on his ass and reading a book on the couch. I ask him why he isn't doing SOMETHING, and he says "I really just want to relax this weekend." After being an idiot about cleaning the kitchen, after being a douchebag about getting a haircut rightnowrightthisveryinstantbecauseiwannatakeashowernevermindthatyouhaventhadyourbreakfast, and running the vacuum like a retard afterward (thereby forcing me to tell him to go away so I can do it myself...the RIGHT way), and then sitting there on his ass while I scrub the kitchen floor on my hands and knees, he's about to get hit in the crotch by that baseball bat that I found behind my refrigerator while cleaning today. And if he wants to have sex tonight?

Well, I'm sure you can imagine.

Once again...

2008-11-14T21:12:00.002-05:00

I'm a rotten turd.

I haven't blogged in MOOOOOOOOONTHS. If anyone is still following this, waiting anxiously to see if I'm talking, then here you go. I'm back - for the next 5 minutes anyway.

Knitting has been busy - lots started, a bit finished, a wholehelluva lot planned. Right now I'm working on this beautiful Entrelac scarf from Ironstone Color Changes...and I'm running out of yarn. Baaaaad.

I'm also going to join the Clap Club. Yeeeeees, pass the antibiotics, I will have the clap in a month or so. But I really can't help it! I saw so many women with one (two? five?) at Stitches East that I'm dying for one now. It would be much more appropriate if I were to be "dyeing" for it, but that's super corny.

Anywaaaaaaaay...

Doo doo do doo...let's get on the bus....

2008-06-26T10:27:00.000-04:00

My mind is undergoing a mental technicolor raping at the moment. Watch Doodlebops, you'll get it. And it's always surprising what depths you'll sink to in the name of "children's entertainment." The show itself isn't so bad, I'll admit, especially compared to that bastard purple dinosaur and his crew of innocent miscreants that I'm sure just knocked over a 7-Eleven with their childish good looks...tell me someone else feels this way.

Updates - I got the internship, I start next week and am nervous as hell. I'll be in charge of remodeling the gallery. Eep - what the hell did my painting teacher tell this woman exactly?!!? I'm not an art student (yet, hopefully), and I don't have the first clue as to how to rearrange a ceramics gallery. The woman actually pointed around and said "I need this to look a lot better," and I'm thinking "Um, it looks pretty good in my uneducated opinion..." I'll also be doing a bit of research on local artists, which won't be too hard. At least it's only 10 hours a week, and I get unlimited studio time. S-W-E-E-T.

Yawn...entrelac stole has now become entrelac purse. I'm knitting up the handle/gusset, and I want to get it done today because I'm going to a party tonight that I want to show it off at.

Here are the promised pics of my critters!

Obi Wan, my cocker spaniel at a Cincinnati Reds game last year

Zelda (beagle/border collie mix, 5 months), and Obi Wan...she's gonna be the size of a horse, I think...

And my kitten, Princess...she's a little twat, but she's cute.

Meow

2008-06-20T23:49:00.000-04:00

My cat loves to make out...it's rather annoying. Even now, after she's slurped off any remaining salt from the visible parts of my arms and neck, she's going after my knuckles as I'm typing this. She's so cute and sweet too, and I can't bear to tell her to stop tonguing me...but it's irritating as hell! I ought to rename her Hershey, but then Allie would be disappointed that I changed the cat's name from "Princess," which is what she picked out. Honestly, I'm not putting too much stock into her critter-naming powers - she named a fish "Ballerina." C'mon, now. Cute as hell, though...both of them.

I realized today that I haven't played bingo in years, so I asked my mama to come with me, and it's a good thing I did too, because I ended up winning some money. Overall, I probably won about $200, but when I go with my mom, our rule is that we split our winnings so everyone goes home a winner - which I think is like playing a game and not keeping score, but whatever - so I split that with her, and then she won a bit too, so I got some back (like, $20. LOL) I walked out of there with $70 dollars...yeah. Those instant pull-tab thingies are effin' addictive. But still - it's more money than I came in with, so I'm happy.

Aw, now look at this... Princess is sitting on my lap with her little kitten head on my forearm, and she pops up every few seconds to double check my arm for parts she may have missed. I assure you, I shower, so why does my cat feel the need to clean me? She doesn't pull this shit with my dog, and Lord knows he's dirty enough.

Mom kept asking me all sorts of questions about our trip to Jersey this summer...it was kind of annoying, actually. I wonder if she's going to break into my house and look around while we're gone...like me and my sister and brother did when they went on vacation without us when we were younger. Serves us right, I guess...LOL

Still plugging away at my entrelac...I've decided it's probably going to be a bag, since I get bored rather easily, I don't think I can make it through the long run for a scarf. Aren't I lazy? If I ever try the Lady Eleanor Shawl, I'm in for a good month of "Oh, my God, I'm so sick of this damn thing."

So to end tonight, I have a few questions...

1. Does anyone know where I can find a satin shawl for a bridesmaid dress that I'm wearing? I really need one to cover up my chicken wing arms.

2. Does cat spit cause rashes or anything? I'm so fucked if it does.

Has it really been this long???

2008-06-19T23:47:00.000-04:00

I've been such a slacker about posting on this blog. I kept up with my myspace blog just fine, but now I can't get on it...one of many long stories that have happened in the past few months. Who knew that being unemployed and a SAHM would be so full of drama?!

So...let's take a deep breath, and read my ramblings, shall we?

- DH and I had a huge falling out a few months ago, and I almost left him...and it all boiled down to fucking myspace. Looking back, it was completely retarded of me to pull that, because I ended up landing him in the hospital with a panic attack, and he had done pretty much absolutely nothing wrong. This is what lead to my myspace absence - I had him change my password because I was spending HOURS online everyday on myspace, being a general myspace addict. Now that I don't know the password to my account, I can't check it every 4 minutes, and I can spend time doing the important things, like spending time with my kids instead of plopping them in front of the TV while I played on the computer all day. Already, my youngest daughter is showing so much more growth and progress, mainly because I'm now spending time with her. With my oldest, it's been harder because she remembers more, I think. Her brain is so lightning quick, and it holds memories like a trap, even though she doesn't talk much. Part of it is her autism, but I really think that part of it is my fault for not spending enough time with her. She's progressing a bit more every day, but I've got lots of ground to recover with her. I'm also actually doing trying to do my share of the housework, which is what the fight boiled down to...I wouldn't do ANY housework because I was too engrossed in the magic box that sits on a desk that connects me to people I don't even know. It's still going rocky, but I'm coming along. Maybe once a week, I ask him to log me in so I can check my inbox, but I've found out that if I don't contact people, they usually don't contact me. Oh well, their loss, you know?

-I finished my winter quarter with a 4.0 average, and I just checked my grades for spring quarter, and I earned myself a nice fat 4.0 average too! So my freshman year of college, I have a cumulative 3.972 because my teacher in my philosophy class gave me an A- my first quarter. Dammit. I now have to go to the main campus of the college and explore my options of transferring my major to business or art. The tricky thing with that is I can't get my minor in art at the University of Cincinnati because they don't offer a minor, but I could double major. The problem is that their program (DAAP - Design, Art, Architecture and Planning) is effing EXCLUSIVE as hell to get into...so yeah. Their business school shouldn't be too hard, being as I'm carrying almost a perfect GPA.

-I still want to open my own yarn shop. But (LOL at this), my dad wants to give me advice about running my own business. Nice of him, considering he tried to start a business and the only thing that I know about it is that it didn't get any further than my sister and I riding our bikes around the neighborhood sticking fliers for it on people's mailboxes. Eh.

-I got a new puppy, and a new kitten, so now Obi Wan has plenty of critter company. Poor dog has aged 2 years in the last 3 months, but at least he's calmed down and stopped shitting in the house so much. I'll have to post pictures of my crew.

-My youngest daughter was accepted into preschool next fall, so that means I'm going to have to drop both my babies off on the bus. I'm sad because they won't be babies anymore, but still...it'd be nice for them to be around other kids and not messing up MY house for a change. I didn't cry when Trina went to preschool for the first time (this coming year will be her third and final year because she'll have missed the age cutoff, the last two years were at our request to build her social skills), but watching both of them troop off to preschool together for the first time may make me tear up like a baby.

-I'm still unemployed, but not for lack of offers. A woman I used to groom dogs with said that the place she works at part time would offer me a one day a week position, paid under the table of course. It's rather tempting because we could always use the money, but there's a reason I quit grooming dogs...it's because I hate messing around with them. I LOOOOOVE playing with them, don't get me wrong, but grooming does NOT equal playing with dogs. And after I got a chunk of my finger taken off by a 13 year old toy poodle, I'm not too keen on getting around them again any time soon. I was also offered an internship at a local ceramics shop, running their gallery. In return, I'd get a small studio space with my own wheel, drying rack, table and wedging board, as well as an amount of firing space once a month. She wants 10 hours a week, and I'm just about ready to come aboard. I sent her an email saying I definitely was interested, but I haven't checked my email again - I'll scurry off once I'm done writing this novel of a blog and check. Actually, I can't wait. **scurries off, then runs back** Yeah, no response yet.

-It's raining. Buckets, ya know? I've been hearing the thunder for about 15 minutes and I knew it was coming...I meant to go outside and stand in the wind and watch the lightning. I don't know why, but that makes me feel soooooooo at peace. DH walked by the window once when I was standing on the porch with my arms open, eyes closed, head up to the sky and the wind whipping around me, and knocked on the window and yelled, "You're not turning back Pagan, are you?" I'm not, but I ignored him anyways. Damn. I want my wind and thunder.

Um...that should be it. I know I haven't blogged ANY about my knitting, but that's because not much of it has been going on. I got an Ashford Joy for Mother's Day, so I've been fairly squeeing over it for over a month now and have spun LOTS. I've tried a couple new things - I'll post new pics too...but I won't tell you what they are right now. Suffice it to say that I've accomplished 2 of my 4 knitting resolutions this year...if you can find what they are, I'll give you a cookie.

Sadnesses...

2008-03-03T23:08:00.000-05:00

My best friend's husband died yesterday, so I'm kind of in an off mood. I feel awful for her loss, and I know she must be going through the toughest time right now. She's also got a plethora of other problems in addition to this, so I'm just trying to keep praying for her.

I've not knit in a couple of days because I'm still just really shocked about this...

I did dye my Denises last night, and we'll just say that if they weren't $60, they'd go to the frog pond and keep all the other abandoned projects in line.

Side note - I've got a big project due next week in astronomy, and it's frankly pissing me right the fuck off. I've rewritten it twice, and it's still not doing what I want it to do. I spent an hour with the professor after class trying to tweak it to work, and he can't figure it out either.

My keyboarding class is still fucked up too...I'm probably going to fail the course because of a stupid computer error that I have no control over and affects ever computer I try to work on for some reason. It's like a sick little virus comes in and munches on the files whenever I'm working on it. The professor for that class is an unhelpful idiot too...it's online, so I guess she feels that she has no real responsibility to ensure we pass. Cunt.

***sigh***I just want school to be done so I can open my shop. But I haven't even declared my major (technically)! Gaaaaah, I'm so tired of waiting for everything!

I'm tired, but I'm freaked out to go to bed (BF's husband died in his sleep, out of the blue. No reason that they know of...) It's maddening!

Yarngasmic

2008-02-28T19:57:00.000-05:00

OOOOOh, baby!

I've been looking online at all the wool festivals in Ohio so I can map out where I want to go...I'm so EXCITED! Hopefully, I can talk DH into coming with the kids - the kids won't be a problem, but it's the husband I'm worried about. I am well aware that knitting and yarn and spinning and wool are NOT his thing, and they really don't interest him at all.

But that's OK...don't tell him, but I could give less than a rat's ass about Star Wars.

But we understand each other's mutual...ahem...~~obsessions~~ HOBBIES...and we accept that they are a part of our personalities.

Ever since I've rediscovered fiber, I've noticed that I'm a much more calm person, which allows me to express myself much easier.

And everytime I play with yarn or wool, I get a little wet in the pants. JK....but seriously.

But anyways...some big festivals I'm planning to attend...

http://www.ewetopia.net/UpperValleyFiberFestival.htm

http://www.lovellservices.com/GLFS/index.htm

http://my.voyager.net/~nfisher/

http://www.appalachiafiberguild.org/

I went to the Kentucky Wool Festival last year, and I think that EVERYONE had a good time. Good country food, good country music, awesome yarn and wool, a petting zoo...Oh, man. Country festivals are the only time that I wish I was country. I would love to live in the city, and be close to everything...but yarn festivals make me feel at home in the country. Every other time I go, I can't stop thinking "Hicksville..." or "That girl looks like such a ho-billy." ***sigh***

But the next festival is at the end of next month...so if I buy those books off Amazon I'm looking at, that leaves me with about $30 to squirrel to the **FUND** (my ~~crack~~ yarn fund), and we'll see what's going to pop up otherwise. Since I've quit smoking (well, I'm TRYING!), that should free up some money...like $40 a month.

OK, I think I've blown enough time down here on campus, time to go home and tend the chillun.

Wow...I've been busy but bored.

2008-02-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

I had my Pure Romance party on Saturday, which was awesome because the rep actually showed up this time. I got almost $200 worth of product for $23. Why can't I find sales like that for yarn?! Then EVERYTHING would feel good ALL the time.

I spent most of last week cleaning my house in preperation for the party, and it's already going to pot. I love my kids to death, but that's really pissing me off.

I decided to probably quit smoking. Yes, I know, it's a horrible habit, and every cigarette I smoke is 10 seconds off my life, blah blah blah. Well, I don't have the money to support yarn and smoking, so the loser is obvious. Matt will be delighted, I'm sure.

Scheduling classes is a fuckin' cunt. No one has emailed me back yet about changing my major, but that's fine. I'll apply to the College of Business during the spring, and hopefully I'll get accepted and can start in the fall. And hopefully I'll have enough art credits from all the classes I'm taking to qualify for my fine arts certificate.

Which brings me to my main topic...I've decided to open my own yarn store. YAY ME! I know it won't happen for years, but still...it's nice to have something to work towards. I though that grooming would be the life for me, but I learned I really can't stand dogs unless I'm just playing with them. I want to take my scissors and jab them in the eye of way too many dogs to justify working with critters for the rest of my life (which probably wouldn't be too long anyways since I'd likely stab myself with thinning shears out of sheer frustration).

OK, I need to go do the dishes (boring) and clean the kitchen up again (boring). On a happy note, though...

I made strawberry shortcake. Yum.

"I kan nitz hat?" Is FINISHED!!!

2008-02-19T15:07:00.000-05:00

It's all done! I'll have to find the camera (and subsequently download the pics of the heathens at the Cincinnati Museum Center) and snaps some pickies. But it's a gorgeous hat, and I only had minimum trouble with it (mainly the decreasing...and I always fuck that up on hats).

Now, I do believe I'll start on the Calorimetry...which is my first attempt at anything with short rows. If this goes well, I may start knitting socks - I've heard they're addicting.

Ceramics class tonight - we're starting on our handbuilt tea services. I've got a pretty good idea for mine, so wish me luck!

Aw, now what the fuck?

2008-02-15T23:02:00.000-05:00

There was supposed to be this knitting group meeting in this bar on the south side of town (actually, it's across the river, but since there's more cool stuff to do over there, I gladly call Newport part of "Cincinnati"...fellow Natians, you can agree). And............................

They weren't there! My friend and I walked around the surrounding blocks looking for this place, and when we finally found it, the doors were locked, and there were chairs blocking the steps that lead up into the place. So I'm guessing that group doesn't meet anymore.

This sucks...it's bad enough living in a part of town where people have never even HEARD of a DPN, so it's impossible to get a group together. But now I go to a meet up that meets on the ONLY night of the week I can go, and no one's fuckin' there.

Man, that's irritating, to say the least. But we went to this restaurant/bar, and I got another 2 inches done on my Noro hat ("I kan nitz hats?" project), so the evening wasn't a total waste. Also, I came home and the hubby said the kids were evil, so I'm a little glad I missed out on that.

Is that wrong of me?

First post everrrrr...

2008-02-15T10:36:00.000-05:00

Well, I've created this blog because I've started using Ravelry...it's like a myspace for fiber arts, only worlds better, especially since myspace is overrun with trolls and whores.

Mainly I'll use this blog to talk about how my knitting, crocheting, spinning, or whatever. There will probably be a fair bit of griping about how I can't knit all the time, or whatever. I'm in a whiny stage of my life right now. Deal with it.

Well, it's back off to Ravelry...

My plans for tonight...play with the kids, knit, and hopefully talk DH into "letting" me go to this knitting group I found yesterday. "Letting" is in quotes because I'll go anyways, I just don't want him getting whiny about it.